Friday, May 23, 2008

Chalk One Up For Karma

Pulling into Fort Washington (Little Santo Domingo) a neighborhood we Hispanic New Yorkers affectionately call “Que Lo Que Land” the bus was already fairly crowded when a woman got on with her little girl. Almost immediately a little boy around 10 years old stood up and offered his seat to the lady and her child. Naturally everyone's heart just melted, beside him his mom beamed with pride.

Once the lady and her little girl had settled in on the seat the lady looked at the little boy and in Spanish said, “Oh he is so adorable and sweet what a little gentleman!” His mother replied, "Gracias." and looked lovingly at her son, her little Sir Galahad. The lady smiled at him and then gave him a tradtional hispanic blessing, “May God bless him, the saints protect him and may the Virgin Mary always favor him!” she said. When imparting blessings the old school latinos don't play they try to cover all the bases. I suddenly had the urge to cross myself and say "Amen".

Maybe the kid was an atheist, maybe the kid was the anti-Christ in disguise and the blessing made his ass itch, or maybe the kid just couldn’t handle the compliment. For whatever reason as soon as the blessing left the lady’s lips the kid gave an evil smile, locked his eyes on the woman’s face,stuck his middle finger up and waved in front of her face.There was an audible gasp from the people around us and his mother lunged to grab him but he effortlessly dodged her and tripped over my feet.

As he attempted to pull himself up the bus lurched and he hit his forehead on the metal pole he’d been holding onto while trying to get up. “Toma!” someone on the bus shouted at the kid. “Ay!” he yelled and grimaced as the knot on his forehead took shape. The kid stared at me as he rubbed his forehead ignoring his mother’s hand reaching out to him. “God don’t like ugly little boy",I told him “That’s why he gave you a cocotaso. It’s called Karma just so you know.” He nodded his head at me knowingly as he made his way into his mother’s arms. Chalk one up for Karma.